Universal relaxation characteristic of interface trap under FN and NBTI stress in pMOSFET device

The generation and recovery of the interface trap under the Fowler Nordheim (FN) stress in pMOSFETs are measured under various temperatures by extracting the subthreshold swing, and are compared with negative bias temperature instability (NBTI) measurements. The relaxation of the interface trap density is especially analysed in the framework of a universal relaxation characteristic which is proposed to explain the NBTI relaxation phase. It has been found that the same form of the universal characteristic from NBTI can be applied to the FN relaxation phase as well. This finding provides an insight into the continuously raised hypothesis that the underlying mechanisms of NBTI and FN stress are similar.